Hydra-headed
(pronounced hy-druh-hed-id) adjective
Definition
1. having the characteristics of a hydra. 2. (with respect to problems or impediments) having several difficult or hard-to-manage facets or features. 3. having many divisions or subdivisions, centers, branches, major units, etc.
Other Forms
Hydra (pronounced hy-druh) noun [Definition: 1. (cap.) in Greek mythology, a serpent with several heads, each of which, if cut off, grew back as two; finally slain by Hercules. 2. a persistent and multidimensional evil or problem that cannot be destroyed by a single blow and which keeps presenting new challenges.]
Main Example
- Each time the U.S. and Iraqi forces have decapitated the leadership of radical Islamic terrorists in Iraq, a new one--equally formidable--has materialized. For instance, first there was the “al Qaeda in Iraq.” Then we began hearing of an “al Qaeda in Mesopotamia,” followed by an al Qaeda offshoot calling itself “the Islamic State of Iraq.” Most recently, it is the so-called “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” or ISIS, which has taken control of a large swath of Iraq. A U.S. Army general was spot-on when, a few years ago, he compared Islamic terrorism to a hydra-headed monster because, as he put it, “it keeps regenerating its heads.”
Workplace Examples
- For years we’ve been trying to contain the manufacturing cost but just can’t seem to get our arms around it. First, it was a spike in the cost of steel; then, the cost of an imported assembly went up because of the sharp rise in the yen; now, a local supplier has raised his prices, claiming higher fuel costs as his justification. Each time we overcome one obstacle, another one materializes, like some hydra-headed beast that just won’t be slain.
- Considering how identity theft takes on a new shape every few years, I’ve been wondering what its next incarnation will be. As you know, it started with the theft of social security numbers from financial statements in the mail; then, identity thieves took to the Internet, inventing scams like phishing; and just recently, PBS’s “Nightly Business Report” aired a story about scoundrels implanting malware in hotel business-center computers to steal people’s passwords when they log into their accounts to print boarding passes for their next flight. The term “hydra” is a perfect descriptor for this unceasing evil.
Other Examples
- a new acquaintance saying: “No, that shiny new building in Austin with our company’s name emblazoned across it is not the headquarters, but rather our semiconductor divisional office. Our corporation is based out of Connecticut and, as is the case with many Fortune 100 companies, we are ‘hydra-headed,’ with big, autonomous divisional headquarters scattered all over the U.S.”
- the hydra-headed problem of child soldiers, of whom there are estimated to be over 300,000 in the world, with several different factors contributing to its insolubility, such as unstable or powerless national governments, civil wars, free availability of easy-to-fire automatic weapons, the indoctrination of those conscripted, and so on
- the smuggling of women and forcing them into prostitution or slavery becoming akin to a hydra: the teeming poverty and high unemployment across the world and resulting eagerness of young women to accept far away “job offers”; the increasingly porous borders in this age of globalization; and the negligence or corruption of government agencies being among the many factors that make this evil hard to crush
